


The Master and the Time Tot

by Kail_lizuc



Series: A child, a box, and his babysitters [5]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Child Doctor (Doctor Who), Fluff, Gen, Humor, I love that term, Much to his chagrin, Rory Williams is a good parent, That's it, The Doctor is a Time Tot, Time Tots | Babies (Doctor Who), Why isn't that a tag?, and the master has to help him, that's the fic, the doctor got lost in a mall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26029531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kail_lizuc/pseuds/Kail_lizuc
Summary: “Hello!” the child exclaimed cheerfully, and maybe it was something in his eyes or just years spent around each other but there was no way the Master didn’t recognize his old friend turned enemy when he was right under his nose, quite literally now.Why was it that he always ran into the Doctor in the most inconvenient of times?Or, the Doctor runs into the Master and shenanigans ensue.
Relationships: Amy Pond/Rory Williams, Eleventh Doctor & Rory Williams, Eleventh Doctor & The Master (Simm), The Doctor & The Master (Doctor Who)
Series: A child, a box, and his babysitters [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840747
Comments: 12
Kudos: 69





	The Master and the Time Tot

**Author's Note:**

> This work was edited on 28/08/2020; I learned about the term "Time Tot" for not-adult Time Lords and just couldn't not add it here, that's all :)

The Master marched skillfully through the crowd as he made his way from the TARDIS. He was about to meet a trader in one of the many cafes, as IGC-09 was known to be one of the best neutral spots to collect information or goods, and even if he still had some time before the agreed hour, he’d rather be there early. After all, one can never be too precautious and it wouldn’t make a good impression to be late anyway.

He’d recently managed to escape the time lock, but his TARDIS needed to refuel —there was a very conveniently placed Rift near here— and he needed some things.

Like, for example, food.

The TARDIS he stole when he ran away had been unfortunately empty of the most basic stuff, and that meant he had to make inventory and get provisions himself.

He was in the process of checking his mental list of all needed thing when he felt something collided with his leg, not forceful enough to throw him off balance, but just enough to make him stop in his tracks. He looked down annoyed only to find a small humanoid child with a wide toothy smile plastered on his face; his eyes were red-rimmed and his cheeks blushed.

“Hello!” the child exclaimed cheerfully, and maybe it was something in his eyes or just years spent around each other but there was no way he didn’t recognize his old friend turned enemy when he was right under his nose, quite literally now.

Why was it that he always ran into the Doctor in the most inconvenient of times?

The Master sighed, “And here I thought you couldn’t get any more annoying, Doctor.”

“Oi!” The Time Tot frowned indignantly, an expression that looked quite funny on his new face, “I’ll let you know, I’m the perfect high to kick exactly where it hurts now.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” he deadpanned. “Now, would you mind letting go of my leg? I’ve got places to be.”

The Time Tot only tightened his grip.

“Doctor,” he hissed warningly.

“I’ll let you go, but only if you help me first!”

The Master blinked, letting go of his annoyance in favor of raising an eyebrow curiously. “Help you?”

The Doctor nodded vigorously, “I lost sight of my friends and I’m too short to look through the crow.”

“So you want me to find them for you?” Another nod. “And what, Doctor dearest, makes you think I’m going to help _you_?”

“I look about nine years old by human standards. Do you think that if I yell at the top of my lungs that you’re a, I don’t know, pedophile or something equally bad, people would notice?”

 _Oh, for Rassilon’s sake…_ The Master silently weighted his options. On the one hand he could just walk away now and ignore the little menace his old friend had become, but he knew the Doctor was quite capable of following through with his threat, and he didn’t fancy getting banned from this specific intergalactic center for something he didn’t do; IGC-09 was too much of a valuable spot to not be able to come back, and it used genetic prints for identification so regenerating wouldn’t fool security either.

On the other hand… this was the Doctor he was talking about. He’d rather get shot than help him out under most circumstances.

He sighed.

“What do your pets look like?”

The Doctor beamed at him, way more excited than he had any right to be.

“Amy’s got red hair and Rory’s got a big nose,” he said, gesturing with his hands, and the Master waited for him to elaborate more. When he didn’t, he let out a half frustrated half annoyed noise.

“How in Rassilon’s name do you think I’ll be able to find them with so little description?”

The Doctor shrugged. Then his gaze focused on the Master’s shoulders and something the Master knew was the beginning of a bad idea flashed in his eyes.

He shook his head repeatedly when he realized what the Doctor saw.

“No. No, no. I know that look, Doctor. Don’t you even thing about it. I did not agree to—”

“But it’d be faster,” the Time Tot interrupted brightly. “And you said you had places to be.”

The Master stared at him, a scowl on his face. The Doctor looked like the embodiment of innocence standing right in front of him with his big puppy eyes that very much did not work on him.

“I will not to carry you around, and that’s final.”

✿

“I hate you.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Master,” the Doctor replied from his position on top of his shoulders, a hand playing absently with his hair, and the Master felt the urge to just let go of his ankles and watch him fall. “It’s not like it’s the end of the universe or something.”

“We’ve been there, remember?” he said flatly. “How did you even get lost anyway?”

“Saw something shinny; thought it was a Nephurian’s gem but it turned out to be just a shiny rock from Alcaiir VI. When I turned around, they weren’t there anymore.”

He rolled his eyes, “That’s so you. Now, if could focus on the task at hand.”

“Yes, yes, I’m looking,” the Doctor grumbled.

The Master sighed silently, pointedly glaring at any being that stared at them for too long, especially at the parents cooing at the sight of them. He scowled; the idea of just letting go of the Time Tot seemed more and more tempting by the moment. “If your pets know how to think at all, they’d probably go back to wait near the TARDIS, don’t you think?”

He could feel the Doctor’s frown even without seeing his face, “I’m not taking you there so you can steal her again, Master.”

“I’ve got no need for that faulty type forty,” he scoffed. “I have my own TARDIS now.”

The Doctor hummed thoughtfully, probably deciding whether to trust him or not. “Well, in that case…” he started carefully, “Go to the west entrance, near the restrooms.”

Shifting his shoulders slightly so he would be more comfortable, the Master started walking in that direction, which, thankfully, wasn’t so far from their current position.

✿

Rory ran a hand through his hair as he looked around the TARDIS’ surroundings again, trying to locate Theta in between the crow of aliens.

It had been almost an hour since they had lost sight of Theta, and he was starting to get worried. Yes, he knew Theta could handle himself most of the time and that he had nine hundred years of experience on alien planets, but he was also a child with an absurdly uncanny ability to find trouble wherever he went, so Rory’s concern was justified.

He had agreed with Amy that she would go over all the places they’d been to that day while Rory waited near the TARDIS in case he came back. That had happened forty minutes ago, and since he hadn’t received any message from her, he could only assume she hadn’t found him either.

Rory was about to walk to the other side of the TARDIS to see if he was there when he heard a high pitched voice yell his name. He turned around just in time to see Theta sitting on top of somebody’s shoulder, waving widely at him.

He let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and skipped towards them. “Theta!” he exclaimed as he came closer and the strange man, who looked considerably irritated and very intimidating, put him down. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“I know, sorry,” Theta said apologetically, and Rory now could see that his eyes were a bit red-rimmed. “I was just behind you when I caught a glance of what I thought was a Nephu—”

Rory stopped him by holding out a hand in front of him as he took out his phone, “Hold on, let me just text Amy. She went around looking for you.”

The kid nodded, turning back towards the stranger.

“You go by Theta now?” the man, whose face felt oddly familiar but Rory couldn't quite put a finger on where he'd seen it before, asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I can hardly call myself the Doctor with this body. People won’t believe it’s my name.”

The man hummed noncommittally, “Hadn’t heard that name since we were in the Academy though. Your height’s the same as back then too.”

Theta frowned and stuck out his tongue, “I’ll grow up eventually and I’m gonna be taller than you again.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, _Time Tot_ ,” the man replied mockingly. “You still have to go through puberty again first.”

The boy groaned loudly. “I’ve been trying not to think about that.”

 _Time Tot?_ Rory wondered absently, and promptly added it to the list of things to Think About Later.

The stranger chuckled amused. Rory pocketed his phone after sending the text and cleared his throat to catch their attention.

“Er, and you are?” he asked the man, but before he could reply, Theta told him.

“Ah, yes! Almost forgot! Rory,” he gestured between them with an arm, “this is the Master, an old friend of mine. Master, this is Rory.”

“It’s a pleasure.” Rory would’ve offered a handshake but his instinct told him it was a bad idea. It was also yelling at him to run because this man— this _Master_ was dangerous, but he was ignoring that bit for now (he didn’t want to risk upsetting the man if he really was a danger, after all). “I, uh. Thanks for bringing him back.”

“Yes, well. He threatened me,” he glared at Theta, who was smiling innocently by his side. Then he cleared his throat, not even glancing back at them as he walked away, much to Rory’s silent relief. “See you the next time I decide to take over a world, Doctor.”

Rory’s eyes widened in alarm at that statement, but Theta just waved at the man’s back. “See ya!”

He was about to ask what that was about and if that the Master really intended to take over the world, but that was the moment Amy came back. And between the hugging and the scolding Theta received from her, Rory just decided to let the whole encounter fade away in the back of his mind to think about on another occasion.

At least Theta wasn’t lost anymore.


End file.
